Wishaw crashed out of the Junior Cup on Saturday — and they have nobody to blame but themselves after defending poorly against an average Darvel side.

The teams did battle again at Beltane Park after a 2-2 draw the previous weekend and, much to their relief, they were without calamity-ref Gerard Pllu, whose farcical performance saw him dropped in favour of FIFA whistler Kylie McMullan.

Winter made its presence known in Lanarkshire with driving rain and a biting, howling wind making playing conditions extremely difficult.

The game was never going to be a classic with the weather as it was, and the sides struggled to create any clear-cut chances, however Wishaw were on top territorially.

Out of nothing though, Wishaw went ahead — Chris Gordon with a simple finish after the ball was directed into his path by Darvel keeper John Brennan following his save from an excellent Nicky Moore drive.

A goal ahead, the home side looked really rather comfortable but they were hit by two major setbacks in the minutes leading up to half time.

Firstly, they failed to deal with a hopeful cross from deep that was finished on the half-volley by Darvel’s Greg Vernon, and then they fell behind almost immediately after the restart — this time a 30-yard piledriver from Jamie Henderson screamed past Ross Harkness in the Wishaw goal to send them in a goal down at the interval.

Wishaw needed a response — and it came along pretty quickly after kick-off. Paul Woodlock darted into the box and he was clearly brought down for a stonewall penalty — and half-time substitute Jason Thomson made no mistake with his spot kick to level the scores.

The leveller seemed to kick Wishaw into life again — with Thomson being denied twice by goalkeeper Brennan — the second a particularly excellent save to tip the impressive sub’s header over the bar.

Woodlock then had a chance to put the Beltane Parkers’ ahead when Thomson was sent through and he saw his effort yet again saved by Brennan with the ball this time dropping at Woodlock’s feet but his composure deserted him and he blasted over.

Those chances were to come back to haunt Wishaw – as with their only real chance of the second half Darvel booked their place in the third round when Josh Kelly scrambled home Fraser Gall’s corner.

Losing goals from set pieces is becoming a recurring theme for John McKeown’s men – and it’s something they’ll have to sort out soon to maintain their hope of league glory.

After the match, manager John McKeown couldn’t hide his frustration.

He said: “We were just very, very poor in our defending — we took the lead and looked pretty comfortable and then lost some really sloppy goals.

“Our inability again to pick-up at set-pieces has cost us massively — I’m fed up with it and I’ve told the boys there are no excuses for it.”